The term “fiberglass” is commonly used to refer to a relatively rigid, strong, and lightweight inert plastic material that combines a plastic matrix with a fabric of glass filaments or fibers. An article made of fiberglass material will be referred to herein as a “fiberglass article”. The fabric of filaments or fibers will be referred to herein as “reinforcement fabric”. The plastic matrix is formed by a solidified mixture of resin and hardener. In the following discussion, the mixture of resin and hardener will be referred to simply as resin when in liquid form.
Fiberglass articles are typically fabricated by laying a mat of reinforcement fabric, saturating the mat with resin, and allowing the resin and reinforcement fabric to harden. When the resin and reinforcement fabric harden, they bond chemically and mechanically to form a relatively rigid structure.
Fiberglass articles are typically produced using a mold. The creation of a mold for fiberglass materials is highly labor and/or capital intensive, and molds are thus relatively expensive to produce. Once a mold is created, alterations to the design of the fiberglass article require either a new mold or expensive and time consuming changes to an existing mold. The use of molds to fabricate fiberglass articles thus substantially increases the costs of the fiberglass article, especially when the mold costs cannot be amortized over a large number of products.
Fiberglass materials can be used alone or in conjunction with other materials to form a finished product. By itself, fiberglass material can be formed with a mold and then removed from the mold to obtain the finished article. The fiberglass material can also be combined with other materials in a variety of ways. For example, the fiberglass material can be applied to an underlying structure to protect and strengthen the underlying structure.
Layers of fiberglass materials may also be laminated together and/or in combination with other materials. For example, inner and outer layers of fiberglass material can be combined with a core of another type of material. The material formed by a plurality of layers of fiberglass material will be referred to herein as a “fiberglass laminate” material. The material formed by one or more layers of fiberglass material and a layer of another type of material will be referred to herein as a “composite fiberglass laminate” material. The present application is of particular significance when used to fabricate a fiberglass laminate article and/or a composite fiberglass laminate article.
The need exists for improved systems and methods for fabricating fiberglass articles, including fiberglass laminate articles and composite fiberglass laminate articles that allow, but do not require, the use of a mold.